A few Days in a Swiss Tunnel Help to Suss Out Any Shortcoming

Eve Air Mobility completed wind tunnel testing of its upcoming eVTOL aircraft earlier this month, putting their mock-up through its paces in a facility near Lucerne, Switzerland.

The Eve team was able to suss out any issues remaining in the aircraft's design, as well as double-check any discrepancies in lift, efficiency, flying qualities, or performance. Of particular interest to crews was the interplay of air along its more unorthodox structures, something of fresh territory in aeronautical design. While computer-aided-design can do quite a lot to validate ideas and concepts, there's no replacement for physical testing.

Ticking the box on wind-tunnel testing is a promising step on the way towards genuine, full size certification. A plethora of wind tunnel data was gleaned, giving Eve engineers a head start on what elements they want to improve upon for the larger demonstrator.

“The completion of wind tunnel testing is an important engineering milestone as we continue the development of our eVTOL,” said Luiz Valentini, chief technology officer at Eve Air Mobility. “The information we obtained during this phase of development has helped us further refine the technical solutions of our eVTOL before committing to production tooling and conforming prototypes. Our goal is to design, produce and certify an aerodynamic and efficient eVTOL that will be used for a variety of urban air mobility missions.”

FMI: www.eveairmobility.com